- fawny-official:
hiii! In regards to the "Guillermo del Toro Says “We Have to Rescue” Studio Animation From “Emoji-Style Behavior”" article/statement, do u have examples of animation that specifically is & is not this type of expression/animation? Bc it's rly hard for me to actually picture this and like I need examples ahaha
- ja-khajay:
Disclaimer - I was not at this specific talk, so I don’t have the full context and I know from reliable sources - friends of mine that DID attend it - that it’s not all he said there, so that article is pretty much only relying spicy chosen bits. That being said, I will focus on this paragraph.
Getting more specific, he went on to detail what he despises about certain lazy proclivities in commercial animation, notably how characters and emotions are “codified into a sort of teenage rom-com, almost emoji-style behavior.” He added, “[If] I see a character raising his fucking eyebrow, or crossing his arms, having a sassy pose — oh, I hate that shit. [Why] does everything act as if they’re in a sitcom? I think it is emotional pornography. All the families are happy and sassy and quick, everyone has a one-liner. Well, my dad was boring. I was boring. Everybody in my family was boring. We had no one-liners. We’re all fucked up. That’s what I want to see animated. I would love to see real life in animation. I actually think it’s urgent. think it’s urgent to see real life in animation.”
What he talks about here is something I find omnipresent in modern American animation, or from studios that are funded by and/or trying to sell to americans (ex: Illumination McGuff). Here del Toro specifically mentions characters and emotions and how they are codified, which would include how characters are written, how animated their emotions and body language are, how they interact… He also mentions studio animation, an important distinction - this does not include indie animators!
A few things, adding * to those he’s specifically calling out here, and more of my own that are not stated but I feel match the style
- *one liners
- *the “dreamworks face”
- *sassy attitude
- *quick banter
- *taking poses
- looking into the camera
- overtly smooth, cartoony body language
- characters explaining their emotions, plot resolutions around this
I will now get to examples, starting by a comparison between two animated films. Both of these films are contemporary, family-audience, french animated films. They share similarities in setting, being medieval fantasy fairytales about female heroes. One of these films was made with an american audience in mind (Pil), and the other caters to a french audience (Dragon Princess). You can compare how the characters act in both trailers:
Try and only focus on dialog, body language and expressions, barring art style and story!
Feature films that, in my opinion, also fit that “emoji style behaviour” (* for those I have not fully watched) any why:
- Turning Red: the sass, the one liners, body language, camera looking, quick banter, plot resolution with characters explaining their emotions. The whole film fits
- Puss in Boots: The last wish: sass, one liners, body language, banter, characters explaining their emotions. Scenes like Puss meeting his past lives and the dog’s dialog are strong offenders
- The emperor’s new groove: sass, one liners, posing, banter
- Encanto: sass, posing, banter; the explaining their emotions to drive the plot is ridiculously present to the point where I’d say del Toro was vagueing that one with the family example
- Klaus: posing, banter, body language, explaining their emotions
- *Nimona: sass, posing, banter, expressions…I only watched the trailer so can’t say much but it leans HARD into the rapid fire quip territory with emotional resolution
- *Trolls: sass, posing, banter, body language, camera looking…
Regarding films that do not do this, the quick answer would be…watch foreign (=not american) and/or older films. Nowadays with internet a massive catalogue is available, although the USA has such a monopoly on animation via its advertising budget other countries don’t have that those films can be harder to find especially if you only use english-speaking internet.
As most studio animation is for a young or family audience and my entire example list above is, I will give some recommendations of films that are also for such an audience, but with older and worldwide picks. Some of these films are fully available on YouTube (although not in english always), so I’ll be linking that when possible!
- Mom is pouring rain (France, 2020s) (trailer): A shorter film about a little girl sent to live with her grandmother while her mom heals from depression. Has emotions front and center but expressed and animated in a way typical of modern french animation, with cartoony designs but subtler, more “boring” acting
- The little prince and the eight headed dragon (Japan, 1960s): Beautifully animated in a style distinct from anime, this is a simple folktale adaptation. Fully on YouTube, albeit in its original english dub who’s quality is frankly not great.
- Next! (UK, 1990s): Stop motion short by an animator who specifically explores subtler, harder to animate expressions, as well as the art of theater, represented here by a Shakespear puppet playing out his works as a one-man show.
- Ramayana (India, 1990s): Animated version of the legend of the same name, coupling a Ghibli art style with your ancient legend’s large scale battles and polite heroes.
- Ne Zha (China, 2010s)(trailer): that trailer is dead serious, it’s actually a pretty damn silly movie! Including this one because as a big CGI animated film it’s interesting to compare to what Pixar/Dreamworks/etc is doing.
- …I’m realizing that I included a whole lot of animated folk tales so for modern chinese animation I’ll also name Legend of Hei (2020s)(trailer), an original fantasy film with indie origins and a whole lot of over the top action.
As for films from the US that do NOT match that style? As a country the US has a rich history of animation asides of Disney! I personally grew up on Tex Avery and Looney Tunes cartoons who (pre-90s) are great examples of this.
For more adult films, I’ll link my list of mature animation recommendations!
My ask remains opens for any clarifications :) have a nice day!
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